- May 28, 2009
- 5
- 10
First time in about 4 smokes I had trouble maintaining temp. Did some chickens today and got the temp up to about 225 for about an hour and then it dropped off. Added more coal,put on a piece of wood, lots of smoke but not very good heat. Don't know what went wrong today with it.
I usually start my lump coal in a large aluminum foil pan, (like you would roast a turkey in, in the oven.) This makes cleaning a breeze, after the smoke I just slide the pan out and dump it in the garbage. I put some paper under the coal first so it will light under the coal. Sprinkle a little lighter fluid on it and light it up. After it gets going I throw a piece of wood on it and I'm good to go, but today all my efforts failed to maintain a good heat. After 4 hours the chicken was still only at 140 deg. So I had to finish it off in the oven.
Wish I knew how to post a pic of my homemade smoker so you could see what I'm doing wrong. Says my pic is too big to upload. I could still email them to anyone that wants to take a look. Thanks for any help-Russ
I usually start my lump coal in a large aluminum foil pan, (like you would roast a turkey in, in the oven.) This makes cleaning a breeze, after the smoke I just slide the pan out and dump it in the garbage. I put some paper under the coal first so it will light under the coal. Sprinkle a little lighter fluid on it and light it up. After it gets going I throw a piece of wood on it and I'm good to go, but today all my efforts failed to maintain a good heat. After 4 hours the chicken was still only at 140 deg. So I had to finish it off in the oven.
Wish I knew how to post a pic of my homemade smoker so you could see what I'm doing wrong. Says my pic is too big to upload. I could still email them to anyone that wants to take a look. Thanks for any help-Russ